Come join us at Frostfest this Saturday, Fubruary 6, 2016. We will be located at the same spot as last year – at the end of the middle row across from the announcer’s stand and prize drum. The building layout is available here.

DDXG will also be providing the Frostfest test bench. We will have a 12 volt power supply, volt meter, dummy load, and SWR/power meter available. You can perform a quick check to see if the equipment powers up and puts out RF.

Please stop by and say hello. We’ll have information available if you’re interested in joining the club or attending one of our meetings. We’re also proud to have one of our members, W4DR, hosting a forum session at noon titled “66 Years of DX Adventures“. The complete list of forums is here.

Members of the Dominion DX Group went over to Tangier Island for the RSGB IOTA Contest again this year. Instead of using the club call, each member used their own call to make contacts. WV4Y, WD4LBR, KC4QYG, and W4BNO all operated this year. We used a Zero Five vertical and an Icom-9100 as our station.

This was a much more relaxed operation than in years past. We all got to operate, but also spent some time just relaxing on the island and eating seafood!

Come out to Frostfest on February 2, 2013 and visit us at the DDXG table. Many members will be there working the tables and shopping. DDXG will again be hosting the test bench for Frostfest. We will have some basic supplies available for checking out the new (or new to you) equipment. We will have a 12 VDC power supply, 50 ohm dummy load, watt meter, and a volt meter on hand.

Frostfest is one of the largest hamfests in the area and draws well over 2000 amateur radio operators. For more information on Frostfest, including directions, ticket sales, and more, check out the Richmond Frostfest web site.

RTTY Roundup

Many members of the club participated in the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest in January. The combined club score was well over 600,000 points. Thanks to everyone that participated.

Tangier

Our Tangier operation this year was different than what we have done in the past. We only operated a single station and let club members and guests operate under their own call sign if they chose to. We had a great time and made several hundred QSOs over the weekend. W4BNO has uploaded some pictures of the weekend to flickr.

DXCC

Several club members got DXCC awards this year. Congratulations to these folks for the work they put into getting their awards.

Members and friends of DDXG will again travel to Tangier Island on the weekend of the RSGB HF IOTA Contest, but with a slightly different emphasis. The club will participate in the contest, but will be there primarily to activate NA-083.

This means that we will be QRV on Friday, shortly after our arrival. DDXG will run a separate log for the contest and may revert to the earlier ‘activation’ log after it ends. Please look for K4VAC on the bands!

At the November 19, 2011 meeting Rick Cook, AB4U, a regular guest at the DDXG monthly meetings, gave a presentation on operating from distant locales. From foreign countries, to boats, to remote areas in Texas, the presentation covered how to prepare for remote operations and pictures of some of the places he has operated from. Rick was kind enough to allow us to post his presentation.

Andy Hodges, KC4QYG, was welcomed to the club at the October 2011 membership meeting. Andy was first licensed in 1990 and is getting back into the hobby after several years of being inactive. In 2010 he became active again and started hanging out with the DDXG. Andy has been an active member of the club – he taught us all about JT65 and WSPR by giving a presentation to the members earlier this year. Andy has achieved the following awards:

Worked All States Basic #55,101

Worked All States Digital

Worked All States JT65

Worked 88 DXCC entities and confirmed 83. Working to achieve DXCC by end of this year.

Robert, W4BNO, gave a presentation on “Solar Numbers and Amateur radio propagation” at the October 2011 monthly membership meeting. This presentation discussed Solar Flux Index, Sunspot numbers, K index, A index and how these affect the upper atmosphere. This also helps in understanding the solar reports from WWV and others.

According to an article soon to be published in QST, DDXG has again won the 2011 RTTY Roundup! A concerted club effort, the group beat out the Orleans County (LA) Amateur Radio Club with a score of 639851 points, compared to the latter’s 541423. DDXG won in the same category in 2009, only to be beat out by the Orleans club in 2010. Now with a target on their backs, DDXG members have several months to hone their operating skills for what will be a fierce contest in early 2012!

DDXG member stations N4KFT (+op W4DKR) and W4BNO (+ops KC4NYK, KJ4NPR) also showed in the Roanoke Division Multi-op High power and multi-op low power categories, respectively.

Club member Lew Best W4LEW poses with his first (mixed) DXCC. Along with this award he also received his DXCC phone endorsement. Licensed for less than two years, Lew quickly obtained is Amateur General and Amateur Extra class licenses in order to take full advantage of the DX found throughout the spectrum. Congratulations to Lew for a notable achievement in an incredibly short period of time!